Devices for dispensing paper towels, handbills, stationery and the like



United States Patent O 3,375,956 DEVICES FOR DISPENSING PAPER TOWELS, HANDBILLS, STATIONERY AND THE LIKE Jacob M. Katz, 225 E. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10022 Filed May 27, 1966, Ser. No. 553,411 1 Claim. (Cl. 221-259) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A stack of upright sheets is against the back wall of a cabinet in which there is a means for holding the stack in the upper region of the sheets, but the sheets remain individually releasable for movement downwardly and outwardly of the cabinet; the cabinet having no bottom wall. A rst spring-biased stack-pressing means is slidably mounted within the cabinet, and spring-biased to a normally raised position; there being accessible means for shifting it downwardly to partially eject the first sheet of the stack. A second spring-biased stackpressing means is mounted within the cabinet, spaced from said first means, arranged to allow downward movement of the sheet being ejected, but prevents any return movement thereof; said second means automatically assuming the position of the changing plane of the everchanging first sheet.

The present invention relates to, and its principal object is to provide a novel and improved device for housing a stack of paper sheets and make them accessible one at a time by a partial ejection thereof; full withdrawal being then accomplished by manually pulling on the exposed sheet end. These devices are suitable for the construction of dispensers of paper towels, printed handbills, stationery and the like.

Another object thereof is to provide a novel and improved sheet dispensing device of the character described, which is simple in construction, reasonable in cost to manufacture, easy to use and efficient in carrying out the purposes for which it is designed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosure proceeds.

For the practice of the invention, there is a box for housing a stack of paper sheets. The box has no wall facing the lower edges of the sheets of the stack. There is means in the box for holding the stack in the upper region of the sheets, but the sheets remain releasable for movement out of the open end of the box. The faces of the stack are respectively opposite box walls, against one of which the stack rests. Inside the box, against the other of said walls, is a slide having a spring-biased element which frictionally grips the face of the top sheet of the stack. Said slide is spring-biased towards the top end of the sheet and has an operating handle outside the box. Said slide is permitted a limited movement in a direction downward of the sheet. Cantilever blade springs press on the top sheet. These springs extend downwardly along the top sheet and present sharp edge formation at their lower ends, to bite into such sheet, permitting sheet movement out of the box upon operation of the slide, but maintaining such sheet against movement back into the box upon the return of the slide to its normal rest position. When used to dispense paper towels, the box is hung on a wall so its open end is downward, in which event the sheets of the stack are vertical and the top sheet is foremost. When used for dispensing stationery, the box is horizontal, fixed to a surface, and its open end is forward.

To explain this invention, I have chosen an embodiment for the dispensing of sheets for use as towels, of

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which a detailed description will now be given, and for which I shall refer to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification. In said drawing, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing device embodying the teachings of this invention, adapted for use to dispense paper towel sheets. lts box for housing a stack of such sheets, is shown in open condition, so its mechanism is exposed to view.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views of cantilever blade springs of different construction which may be used in place of those shown included in FIG. l.

FIG. 4 is a section taken at line 4--4 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the dispensing device in normal rest condition, ready for use.

FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 5, showing the device being operated whereupon one sheet has been partially ejected.

FIG. 7 is a similar view showing the device returned to its normal rest condition, whereupon the partially ejected sheet may now be manually Withdrawn for use.

FIG. 8 shows the face of a toweling sheet adapted for use in this device.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of stack holding means of modified construction.

FIGS. 5-9 are drawn to a reduced scale.

In the drawing, the numeral 15 designates a sheet of paper having absorbant quality so it will serve as a towel. It is provided with two holes 16 spaced along its top edge and equidistant from its side edges, somewhat like a page for a loose leaf folder, but there is a slit 17 to each of said holes from said top edge respectively; such slits diverging towards such edge. A stack of such sheets is housed within a cabinet box structure denoted generally by the numeral 18, whereby the sheets are vertical. As shown in the particular embodiment illustrated, the sheets of the stack having the dimension W, are suspended from the pair of pins 19 which extend horizontally from the back wall 20, into the cabinet. Said cabinet has no bottom wall, thereby providing an opening 21 through which sheets of the stack can pass. The last sheet 15" of the stack is against said back wall 20 of the cabinet, and the whole stack is pressed against said wall by the cantilever blade springs 22, which are spaced a bit from the cabinets side walls 23, and extend downwardly within the cabinet towards, the opening 21, in contact with the top sheet 15 of the stack, which is foremost within the cabinet. Within said cabinet, on the front wall 24 thereof, on which said blade springs are fixed, there is a flat slide member 25 engaged by the side tracks 25 fixed on the side walls 23. This slide is biased towards the top of the cabinet by the spring 26, and a pin 26 fixed in the cabinets front wall, is through a slot 27 in said slide, which determines the limits of its travel; said slide having an exterior handle 28 for its manipulation, and a springbiased member 29 which frictionally engages the top sheet of the stack down to the last sheet. It is to be noted that the distal free edge of each of the blade springs is a sharp formation, as the straight edges 30 which bite into the top sheet, permitting sheet movement downwardly but not upwardly.

The back wall 20 of the cabinet has holes 31 so it can be screwed onto a wall 32. To replenish the stack, the cabinet must be opcnable, and the way shown therefor, is to pivotally secure the bottom rearward corners of the slide walls 23 to the forward anges 33 of the back wall as shown at 34. The cabinet 18 may be maintained closed by means of a lock suggested at 35. The front of the cabinet may have a mirror 36 thereon.

FIG. 4 shows the cabinet 18 loaded with a stack of toweling sheets. The cabinet is closed, of course its bot- 3 tom is open at 21. This dispensing device is in operative condition.

It is evident that to get a sheet, which in this instance will be the handle 28 is pressed down by hand 37, as far as it will go. The actual length of such travel of the slide 25, will be substantially the length of the slot 27. This slide movement will cause the sheet-gripping element 29 to shift the sheet 15' out of the opening 21, substantially the length of such slide movement which may be about two inches as shown in FIG. 6. Upon release of the handle 28, the spring 26 will cause the slide to rise to its normal rest position, coming to a stop when the pin 26 is contacted by the bottom end of the slot 27. Now as in FIG. 7, the ejected portion of the sheet 15 can be manually pulled out of the cabinet and used. The edges 30 of the blade springs 22 did not interfere with the downward movement of the sheet 15, but upon the return upward movement of the slide 25 when the handle was let go, though it was the tendency of the element 29' to try to raise the sheet 15', upward movement of said sheet was prevented by the blade spring edges 30 which bit into said sheet.

During the first portion of the downward movement of the slide 25, the drag of the friction element 29 on the sheet 15', was sufiicient to pull the sheet so thev pins 19 passed through the slits 17, thereby deforming the sheet portion between such slits and creating incidental friction which such drag also overcame. The subsequent complete withdrawal of the sheet 15', after assuming the position shown in FIG. 7, did not drag the next sheet with it because of the latters hold by the pins and the inability of the dragging action of the element 29' or the pull on'the said sheet 15' at any time, to free two sheets from the pins. The roughness of the sheet material is not sufficient to allow this, nor is the force of the drag by the element 29', strong enough to do it.

To use the dispensing device for a stack of second sheets for typewritten copies or letterheads, such sheet material would not have the hole and slit provision. So the device is used horizontally whereby the wall is lowest and the opening 21 is in front, and the cabinet is held steady in any suitable manner. The pins 19 are omitted, and to accomplish frictional hold of the sheets in the stack at their upper region, two fiat rubber elements 38 are provided fixed on the box wall 20 inside the cabinet, between which rubber elements the stack of imperforate sheet are positioned with the side edges of said sheets in frietional contact with the opposing faces of said rubber elements; the spacing of said rubber elements being such as to accomplish a slight clamping action on the sides of the stack.

The biting edges of the blade springs 22, may be serrated as at 39, or pointed as at 40, in place of the sharp straight edge shown at 30.

This dispensing device will be operative regardless of the position the cabinet is fixed in, and so it is intended that the definition of structure as stated in the appended claim, shall apply in any position the cabinet is held steady. When the cabinet is mounted on a wall, it will be most common to have the sheets discharged downwardly. When held on a table or desk, it will be most common to have the sheets discharged forwardly.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired 4 that the embodiments shown herein shall be deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being had to the following claim rather than to the speciric description herein, to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a dispensing device for partially ejecting a paper sheet through an opening so the lower portion of the sheet is made accessible to be taken manually hold of and then pulled entirely therefrom, comprising a cabinet for housing a stack of paper sheets so the last sheet thereof will rest against a first wall of the cabinet, and the first sheet will be opposite and spaced from a second wall of the cabinet; said walls being opposite each other, means in the cabinet for releasably holding all the sheets of the stack at their upper regions; said cabinet having an opening facing the position of the lower edges of the sheets, through which opening the sheets can be passed out of the cabinet, a first spring-biased, stack-pressing means slidably mounted within the cabinet for movement from a normal rest position to a second position towards said opening, means accessible exterior the cabinet for, moving said first means, spring means biasing said first means towards the nor-mal rest position; said first means bearing against said first wall when the cabinet is empty of sheet material, and adapted to press against the first `sheet of the stack when a stack is set in the cabinet against the first wall, an element carries on the first means for'frictional engagement with the first sheet, adapted when the first means is slid towards said second position, to move the first sheet partially out of said opening; the distance between said positions being predetermined and less than the length of a sheet; the improvement consisting of a second spring-biased stack-pressing means mounted within the cabinet and spaced from said first spring-biased means, said second means bearing against said first wall when the cabinet is empty of sheet material, and adapted to press against the first sheet of the stack when a stack is set in the cabinet against the first wall; said second means when bearing against the first sheet of the stack, allowing such sheet to move in the direction out of said cabinet; said second means presenting a sharp edge formation on and across the first sheet and within the confines of the stack; said edge being adapted to bite into said first sheet and prevent reverse movement thereof on the stack during the return of the rst means to said normal rest position from said second position or from any place intermediate said positions, whereby said device is capable of use for paper sheets lacking stiffness.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 363,379 5/1887 Flint 221-259 X 1,176,142 3/1916 Hoberg 221-259 X 1,587,114 6/ 1926 Goudeau 221-267 X 2,299,940 10/1-942 Thomasma 221-259 X 2,836,325 5/ 1958 Erickson et al. 221-26 3,023,931 3/1962 Carlson 221--259 3,152,722 10/ 1964 Thomasma et al. 221-259 FOREIGN PATENTS 211,240 2/ 1924 Great Britain.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

